Sennacherib Boasts Against the Lord
1Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defensed cities of Judah, and took them. fortified, walled
2And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field.
3Then came forth to him Eliakim, Hilkiah’s son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph’s son, the recorder.
4And Rabshakeh said to them, Say youp now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein you trust?
5I say, say you, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?
6Lo, you trust in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.
7But if you say to me, We trust in the Lord our God: is it not He, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Youp shall worship before this altar?
8Now therefore give pledges, I pray you, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you be able on your part to set riders upon them.
9How then will you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
10And am I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? the Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
11Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah to Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray you, to your servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews’ language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall. hearing
12But Rabshakeh said, Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words? has he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own urine with youp?
13Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and said, Hear youp the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.
14Thus says the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive youp: for he shall not be able to deliver youp.
15Neither let Hezekiah make youp trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
16Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus says the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat youp every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink youp every one the waters of his own cistern; listen
17Until I come and take youp away to a land like yourp own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
18Beware lest Hezekiah persuade youp, saying, The Lord will deliver us. Have any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
20Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
21But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not. were silent
22Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh. torn
